have zeal for chemistry or natural history, they would long to find themselves in one another's company; and though they might differ on some questions of detail, like two astronomers on opposite sides of the nebular hypothesis, but on the same side of the Newtonian theory,-their large agreement and common ultimatum would make it a happy meeting, and supply materials for animated and long remembered intercourse. And if at this moment there are Christians so cold to Christianity, and so shy of one another, that they had rather never meet, it is an urgent reason for their coming together without longer loss of time. Nothing will so soon banish from their fancies the printed phantom as a sight of the living saint.

The Evangelical Alliance will therefore seek to "cherish in the various branches of the church of Christ the spirit of brotherly love, and will open and maintain by correspondence, and otherwise, fraternal intercourse between all parts of the Christian world." Evangelic Christendom is at this moment in the predicament of a country which has suffered from repeated shocks of an earthquake. In its territory there are many flaws and fissures; but the great gulfs are few. So narrow are some of the separations that they would long since have healed; the crevices would, of their own accord, have closed, had not party zeal driven down its wedges to make the gap perpetual; and even where the chasms are widest, they are not so wide but a lofty intellect or a loving spirit might easily cross them. The real barrier to intercourse is not the breadth of divisions, but the bitterness of controversy. It is not the separateness of the church's different portions, but the sectarianism of the separate. It is the rancour of debate, the personal malignity, the odium theologicum which, if not the grand perpetuation of party, is the stronghold of bigotry, and the great obstacle to Christian intercourse. It is this which, into the narrower clefts forces the billets which shall keep them for ever open. It is this which plants its sentinels along the obscure boundary to prevent unobstructed feet from over-stepping it. It is this which seizes. the gangways which conciliation or magnanimity has thrown across the wider rents, and hurls them indignant down into the deep. And it is this which flings from its Tarpeian rock the traitors who have been detected paying friendly visits beyond the interdicted line.

Now, controversy may for the present be needful; but their never was, and never will be, need for its rancour. We may have all its victories without its virulence, all its truths without its personal tragedies: and that will be the most wholesome state of the church when discussions wax kindly and controversies are conducted in the spirit not of party feuds but of friendly investigations. Iron sharpens iron; and the day may come when like honest experimenters in physics, earnest inquirers in theology will employ their respective acumen not in perplexing one another, but in pursuing joint researches, and will find their full reward not in a bewildered_public, but in a text clearly interpreted and a doctrine finally demonstrated, in a long debate concluded and a weary question for ever set at rest.

Dear brethren, The Evangelical Alliance is primarily a Society for the increase and diffusion of Christian love. Love is a noble grace, and any pains expended in fostering and spreading it will be well bestowed. The magnanimity which bears the infirmities of the weak, the charity which receives one another as Christ also received us, the considerateness which denies itself and pleases a neighbour for his good, the love which "beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things"-this love is as rare as it is Christ-like-as difficult as it is Divine. To our proud carnality there may be something more commanding in the boisterous and belligerent attributes; but to a sanctified apprehension there is something more sublime in his brave charity who quells a feud or subdues his own offended spirit. He may be a valiant man who points the gun in the hour of battle; but he is a bolder man who lifts the shell from the crowded deck, and flings it hissing into the surge. He may be a valiant spirit who, muzzle to muzzle, plies his roaring artillery on a belaboured and reluctant church, and waves his victorious stump as he sees the hostile flag come down; but he is the truest hero who espying an explosive mischief on the deck-a bomb fraught with foolish questions and logomachies, contrives to pitch it timely overboard. There may be something august in the dark thunder-cloud as it frowns and

grumbles over quaking fields; but there is something mightier and more wondrous in the lightning rod which is gradually stealing from that cloud its fiery elements and converting its dingy wrath into harmless vapour. And there is something commanding in the flashing zeal and muttering orthodoxy of the surcharged disputant-something that calls a rueful attention to himself in the wilful spirit as he heaves his lowering bulk between a happy church and the smiling firmament; but there is something nobler in that wise and quiet spirit, that lightning-rod whose gentle interference and noiseless operation are drawing off the angry sparkles and thinning the gloomy mischief into azure and daylight again. And there may be grandeur in the hail-storm which hurls its icy boulders over a dismantled provincewhich strews the battered sod with dead birds and draggled branches, and leaves the forest a grisly waste of riven trunks and leafless antlers. But who does not rather bless the benignant rain as it comes tenderly down on the mown grass, or the rainbow as it melts in fragrant drops and glowing flowers, and then from grateful fields and laughing hills glides back into its parent sun? Even so, there may a terrible importance attend the rattling zealot who sends a storm of frozen dogmas through Christendom or through his particular society, and leaves it a desolation-who certainly kills some weeds, but demolishes each radiant flower and annihilates the season's crop. Yet who does not rather pray that his may be the brotherly kindness which dissolves in mild enchantment on sullen natures, and in genial invigoration on such as are drooping or dying-a transforming love like His whose calm descending is forthwith followed by the flourishing of righteousness and the abundance of peace? Psalm xxii. 6, 7.

II. A second object of the Evangelical Alliance is to manifest the large agreement which actually subsists between the genuine members of the Church of Christ; i. e. to exhibit as far as possible the existing oneness of the Christian Church. It may sometimes be a mere pretext for carelessness, but we believe it is often a real stumbling-block to earnestness, that Christians are so divided; and though it may be very just to argue that amid all this diversity there is an actual identity, it would be more convenient to exhibit it. The Communion of Saints is a tenet in every creed, and a matter of regenerate consciousness with every Christian; but to a worldly man it is a thing so recondite, an affair of such delicate induction, and contradicted by so many appearances, that he may well be excused for overlooking it. As a source of comfort to Christians, this latent unity is valuable; but before it can become an argument and an element of influence on those who are without, this latent unity must be made obvious and palpable, and if, possible, notorious.

And does not this unity exist? Independently of the outward character which they exhibit, are there not certain great facts which all Christians credit, and certain feelings which all Christians share in common? That the Bible is the Word of God-that our earth was visited eighteen centuries ago by the Son of God incarnate-that in his sufferings and death he effected an atonement for sinners of mankind-that this atonement is available to the entire and instant justification of the sinner who believes in Jesus-that Christ now lives and reigns the Head of his ransomed Church-and that the Holy Spirit is sent forth into the world to convince of sin, and to conduct souls to the Saviour, and to sanctify the children of God: truths like these every Christian credits. There may be favourite ways of stating them, and there may be ways of systematizing and arranging them but there is no variance as to their revealed reality and historic verity; they are facts which have the suffrage of consenting Christendom. And even so there are certain feelings which distinguish the whole family of the faithful-complacency in the revealed character of the living God, love to his holy law, hatred of sin, a desire to do their Heavenly Father's will and possess his conscious favour, zeal for his honour, love to his people, and delight in his worship; these affections, whether constant or intermitting-whether vivid or more vague, every disciple of Jesus knows them. Every man is a Christian who rests on the Lord Jesus as his Saviour, who obeys him as his Lord, and who rejoices in him as his all-sufficient Friend. And as all Christians are united in LOVE

:

AND LOYALTY TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, why should they not proclaim to the world their one opinion regarding HIM?

The basis of the projected union comprehends a body of doctrine regarding which the Evangelical Alliance might send forth, if needful, its united testimony. Should a controversy arise respecting the composition of some mineral, and should ten chemists all agree in discovering gold and silver in it, whilst some detected traces of other metals, would there be any harm in the ten subscribing a declaration regarding the two ingredients which they all alike had ascertained-leaving it to the rest to send forth their separate statements regarding those additional substances which they believed to be also present? And when the question is asked, What saith the Scripture? and the farther question, What doth it mean by these sayings? if there be certain paramount doctrines which we all alike discover in these sayings, but others regarding which we are not absolutely unanimous, is our disagreement regarding the latter sufficient reason for not signing a joint affidavit regarding the former? The Evangelical Alliance asks no man to abandon the amplitude of his denominational articles; but if in his own more copious confession he has already included certain vital doctrines, we beg his suffrage in the general testimony. And should he belong to a society which owns no confession but the Bible, we do not ask him to impose our basis on his Society;—but if he has found these truths in his Bible, we ask him to join his name to ours in telling the world that these things are so. And thus in some form, which may meet the views of all, we hope to be able to tell the world some truths of surpassing moment, in which we are all agreed; and when the Jew, or the seeptic, or the Romanist asks, What is Evangelical Christianity? we shall find in our basis of Union the materials of an answer -the Manifesto of Evangelic Christendom.

But even though no doctrinal statement were prepared, we might exhibit, in the cordiality of our meetings, in the promptitude of our sympathy, in the simultaneousness of our movements, and the oneness of our aims, such a spectacle of vital and inward identity as would answer every purpose. We do not wish to dogmatise on the best means of accomplishing the object. We would rather leave it to the thoughts and prayers of the Church meanwhile, and to the Lord's teaching when we meet next summer to decide the most excellent way. We are content to mention it as one object of the Evangelical Alliance-an embodiment, or visible exhibition of the actual oneness of the Church of Christ.

III. The third object of the proposed Alliance is to adopt united measures for the defence and extension of the common Christianity.

Even now there are many Antichrists. The priestly office of our blessed Lord is nullified by Socinianism, and similar systems, which make the sinner his own Saviour. His prophetic office is assailed by Romanism and Romanising theology, which reserve what the Saviour revealed, and shut those Scriptures which the Saviour bids us search. And his kingly office is impugned, and his royal claim rejected by a lawless world, and a large amount of licentious professorship—whilst each office of the Saviour is impugned by many of the afore-mentioned, and other forms of error. There are many adversaries; and it is time that right-hearted men were striving together in the defence of the Gospel. To meet the insidious infidelity and atheistic blasphemy of some-the soul-deluding superstition of others-the profligacy and flagrant immorality of many more-to meet the entire ungodliness of this Bible-burning, Bible-wresting, and Bible-abhorring age, demands the united energies of all to whom the Bible is inspiration and the Saviour Divine.

The victims of persecution are, in many lands, pining away unbefriended and forgotten; localities which bloomed like the garden of God are given over to the beast of the field, and the boar of the forest; the Lord's-day is losing its sacredness, and usages of olden piety are melting in the flood of a furious secularity; whilst the religious silence of our more decent literature supplies no counteraction to the grossness and ribaldry of the more outrageous press. Two thirds of our world's population have never heard the Saviour's name; and if a majority of minds enlightened in saving truth, and influenced by Scriptural motives be needful to constitute a Christian community, there

yet exists no Christian land. To exalt the standard of personal piety, to retrieve the interests of public morality, to diffuse through Christendom the conviction that no member shall hereafter suffer, but all the members shall suffer with him to stem the encroachments of superstition and infidelity, and diffuse the light and joy of the Gospel, in objects like these there is ample room for division of labour, and union of effort. Without devouring one another, the martial spirits amongst us may find outlet for all their chivalry, and use for all their logic, in fighting the battles of the faith; and those whose milder dispositions and less athletic mould are more inclined for peaceful exercises, may find abundant scope in the angelic errands and benignant applications of the Gospel of the grace of God.

The small progress and scanty triumphs of that Gospel are not owing to to its inherent weakness, nor to the fewness of its friends. The Gospel is mighty. The truth of eternity-the power of God is in it; and its believers are many-perhaps never so numerous as now: and their aggregate resources are immense. It is astonishing, when you consider the amount of learning and intellectual opulence, and social influence-it is delightful to recount the various accomplishments and talents which, in one form or another, and within this living age, have been laid at the Saviour's feet. And whilst the Church is numerous and powerful, their is no lack of zeal. There are vitality, and energy, and sometimes stupendous exertion; but the misery is that so much of its zeal is mis-spent-that so much of it is energy devoted to mutual destruction. The elastic vapour which murmurs in the earthquake, or explodes in the mud-volcano, if properly secured and turned on in the right direction, might send the navy of an empire all round the world, or clothe with plenty an industrious realm. And the zeal which has hitherto rumbled in ecclesiastical earthquakes, and left no nobler momentos than so many streaming cones-so many mud-craters, on the sides of the great controversial Jorullo,-if rightly directed, might long before this time have sent the Gospel all over the globe, and covered a rejoicing earth with the fruits of righteousness. The river which Ezekiel saw was a tiny rill when it first escaped from the temple, but a course of a thousand cubits made it ankle-deep, and a few more furlongs saw it a river that he could not pass over-the waters were waters to swim in. And this is the course of the Gospel, when Christians do not hinder it. But instead of clearing the common channel, and strengthening the main embankments for its universal and world-gladdening flow, the effort hitherto has been to divert it all into denominational reservoirs. Each one has gone with his spade and his pickaxe-has breached the grand embankment, and tried to tempt the mighty stream into his own more orthodox canal. And the consequence of these sectarian efforts these poor attempts to monopolise the Gospel-the consequence is, that like a certain river in the southern hemisphere which has only been known to reach the ocean once during the last thirty yearsbetwixt the scorching secularity over head, and the selfish interruptions of the stream, it is only now and then that the Gospel is allowed to flow far enough to fertilise new territory, and gladden weary souls. But a better day is coming, and in these movements we hail its dawn. Instead of monopolising or dividing the stream-instead of breaking its banks, or interrupting its course-our individual and our united efforts shall hereafter seek to clear its channel and deepen its flow; and the work of our different denominations shall be, not to pierce the bank, or dig diverting canals, but each to strengthen the enclosing mounds and remove the interrupting rocks as it sweeps along against their respective territories. Thus acting, thus seeking not our own things, but the things of Jesus Christ; we shall soon behold the little stream which welled up at Jerusalem eighteen hundred years ago, holding on in its prosperous course. We shall see life leaping in its sunny ripple, and joyful world resorting to its genial current; we shall see one fold reposing on its green margin, and beside its still waters One Shepherd leading them. And best of all, on its teeming brink, we shall again behold the long-exotic Tree of Life-its laden branches mirrored in the tranquil tide, and showering on the azure amplitudes its leaves of heavenly healing.

For this movement we know that thousands were ready long ago; and now that it is begun, we have been cheered by the joyful response of many of the

best and wisest men at home and abroad. So widely has the Spirit of love been working, that we are persuaded even this imperfect outline of our plans and objects will find a multitude of prepared and approving leaders; and for the guidance of those who may wish to aid the proposed Alliance, the Committee would, in conclusion, mention the ways in which the Friends of Union may most effectually advance their object.

1. By giving in their personal adhesion.

2. By diffusing information on the subject. Even where there is a real good-will to the object, considerable misapprehension exists as to the proposed means of affecting it. Ministers might prepare their people by preaching on the much-neglected duties of conciliation and Christian charity, forbearance, and brotherly love. Meetings might be held for the purpose of expounding the principles and objects of the projected Alliance, and for calling attention to those signs of the times which demand the united efforts of all God-fearing men. And every individual who prays, "Thy kingdom come," might help forward the result by directing towards it the attention of his immediate circle, and distributing tracts and pamphlets regarding it.

3. By pecuniary contributions. A large outlay must inevitably be incurred in sending deputations to foreign countries and into the different provinces of England preparatory to the great Conference of June;* as also in publishing the necessary documents in many languages. For defraying these expenses we respectfully appeal to the liberality of the Christian public.

4. One of the last resolutions adopted in the Liverpool Conference was, "That as the Christian union which this Conference desires to promote, can only be attained through the blessed energy of the Holy Spirit, the Conference unanimously recommends the members present, and absent brethren, to make this matter the subject of simultaneous weekly petition at the throne of grace, in their closets and families; and suggests the forenoon of Monday, as the time for that purpose.'

It would be delightful to know that the recommendation of the Conference was completely carried out. The Conference itself was an answer to prayer; and there were few who attended it who did not depart with a deepened conviction of the power of prayer. Since that Conference closed many have been resorting to the throne of grace, on this very errand with increased urgency and hopefulness; and as no prayer can be offered more confidently than one which was first offered by the great Intercessor, so nothing could afford a surer earnest that the set time is come than to find that the people of God are continuing with one accord in supplication. With much benefit to themselves neighbouring congregations might occasionally hold united prayer-meetings for this end.

STUDY AND INTERPRETATION OF THE SCRIPTURES.

To ascertain the grammatical sense of the Scriptures is only a preliminary step. Our next business is to discover the true meaning of them, or to find out the sentiments which the sacred writers intended to convey. Besides the simple perusal of the Scriptures there are various methods to be used for the elucidation of the text.

In the first place, one method which should be employed, with a view to ascertain the sense of Scripture, is to compare it with itself. It consists of several books, which appeared in different ages; but, as the whole was written under the direction and inspiration of the Holy Ghost, we are sure that there is no real contradiction in it, and that there is harmony among its parts, which conspire to one end,-our instruction in the system of religion. It will therefore tend to throw light upon one part, to bring into view other parts which are allied to it. Now this alliance is more or less close. Sometimes different passages of Scripture agree, not only in treating the same subject,

*It is now arranged to hold the Conference in August.-ED.